If Facebook is going to get its share price above water, it needs the support the ad agencies. So today it announced�the Creative Council — 14 agency execs that will provide advice — and Studio Edge, a suite of new marketing education tutorials.The Creative Council will be a “sounding board for both Facebook product ideas and key agency needs”. The advisors could persuade Facebook to launch flashier ad units or more invasive targeting mechanics.�The marketing products the Creative Council guides will benefit from Facebook Studio Edge’s interactive guides designed to make Facebook’s social marketing products less befuddling for those closer to the Mad Men[...]

Just a few short days ago, The Fancy added social commerce to its Pinterest-like discovery and sharing service. Today, the fast-moving startup added local commerce via Zaarly’s peer-to-peer marketplace.Zaarly is simple: You need something done, you find a neighbor who can do it. Or if you have a unneeded item, you sell it to someone who lives right around the corner. It’s local commerce, mediated by the internet: eBay for your block.As of today, users on The Fancy can sign up for commerce and sell their creations. Two charming examples the company provided are cookie monster cookies, and lego-head propane tanks.Users simply see an item they want, click the Make it for Me butto[...]

After raising substantial money over the past year for internet growth fund and life sciences companies, prominent investor Index Ventures has completed the set by adding a new ?350 million fund for early stage companies.The company — which now has major presence in Geneva, London and San Francisco — is best known for investing in European internet businesses like Skype, MySQL and Lovefilm. But over the past few years it has expanded its presence elsewhere too, with significant moves in San Francisco, New York and Tel Aviv. It’s three years since Index last raised an early stage fund, which was around the same size. Partner Neil Rimer told me that the new money would be[...]